Felder FD-250 - Building a fence - thoughts

[Brian Holcombe]

I appreciate the inputs on my decision, however I decided to go this route because I came across this video by Vincent Rolfe on youtube. He builds some pretty nice things and is using this setup. He clamps a backup bar, where I want to build a heavy fence, but in any case he makes it look quite doable. Given the consideration in the rest of his work, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he's likely got this machine setup well for this.

Mike, I've looked into old iron and I've yet to see anything coming up for less than $2500 that looks like something I'd like to actually invest in before restoration. Add to that I have a scarcity in the way of floor space, which I'm prioritizing to a spindle molder and a Maka eventually. This setup does use chisel and auger.

David, that machine is pretty badass.



Patrick, I'd like to add another machine but not something I can really consider in my current space. Appreciate the suggestion, and a nice one at that but that will have to wait for a day when I have larger square footage.

[Joe Calhoon]

I have seen a few DMs pop up used lately. The DMV is very rare here. They are a good solution for the HC.

Mortisers in general are not the easiest machine to design fences for. Mortises vary in length and that throws a kink to it.
the Maka has a heavy flip up fence for in close work that reads to a scale in the table. It shares the Glide stop fence of the radial arm. The scale is set to center of cut but since mortise length can vary we usually just eyeball it in then adjust. Some shops have put Tiger Stop type systems on Maka’s.
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My DM has no fence or stops but plan to make one or if lucky find one that was made for these machines. For one offs not hard to just mark the cuts but that is not ideal for batch work. The machine has a nice stop adjustment for length of mortise.
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My Hoffmann (now Götzinger) has one of the best manual fence systems for a mortiser -drill. It has left and right fixed stops that swing out of the way when not used. Two adjustable in close stops that accurately read off a scale and a long fence that plugs into each side for long work with mid mortises or dowels. This machine can do slot mortises but we use it mostly for dowel drilling.
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We we used to have a Kolle slot mortiser. It had a 3 position center fence that plugged into the table and a simple double rod fence for longer work. It was simple but not bad to set. The machine was similar to Hofmann’s and Panhans mortiser.

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[Warren Lake]

heres some italian concrete and how they do it on a T130 metal box concrete inside.

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This is looking up into the box, Jimmy Hoffa isnt in there.

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Thats the first horizontal Chisel ive seen before, pretty cool, either its not adjusted well or gravity works against it as his auger is rubbing too much.

Ive been happy with this machine, build quality is excellent. The clamping system could have been better as solid as they made it the clamping system would have been better off the back fence, pushing on it as it does it can deflect. Or if made so it torques out with the same pressure each time you clamp it. I forget what I measured think deflection can be .003.

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[Mike Heidrick]

Seems like you could just use a round birds mouth bit on a slot mortiser and then just mount a chisel and square the ends. Hmm, Ill try it on mine. I think i still have some hollow chisels left.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks for the input fellas, much appreciated.

Joe, I’ve been thinking a lot about flip down stops. My thought now is if a cast iron fence with an extruded aluminum face, in thinner but sturdy weight that can easily accommodate stops. Thanks for providing those examples, greatly appreciated.

Warren, thanks for the photos. That’s a smart way to do it, just baffling away from the wiring and pulleys. Given how difficult it will be to weld in a baffle I’m thinking of just placing lead blocks in the base, or heavy duty sealed sand bags

There is a chance that the iron hub that holds the chisel was not checked for centering against the chuck. I plan to do this but there may also be little room for adjustment. Also it is possible that the auger is not perfectly true or other situations exist that I’m not considering.

Its also possible that the cell phone just picks up on that frequency.

[Warren Lake]

Brian

I think that metal box is just fastened in with allen screws so you could make it or have one made then fasten it then remove it and fill it then instal

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Warren!

[Mike Heidrick]

Here is my mortiser with a set of bimba clamps from jds. Just thrying to give you ideas. My sub table is held on to the CI table with 6 rare earth magnets.

[Warren Lake]

I like it. Years ago I did set up with an air foot pedal and took the clamps off the Blum Hinge machine. What turns your clamps on and off? I went from mickey mouse toggles to fast and easy. I like the blums as they are small and have good strength. LIke to do some set up on my mortiser and have it run off the back fence. If you have seen Jacks stuff run he gets his cutters really sharp they go in and out really well. thats part of it. I have sandpaper on my clamping block and I also have the pressure piece cut away so there is never pressure directly over the the bit itself. Ive always meant to post and ask what Joe and others thing of that. IM not sure it transmits directly but I kind of felt it does so have it so the pressure is a bit away from the bit on either side of it.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Mike, that is a cool idea. I have been thinking of air clamps for this as well.

[Mike Heidrick]

Just a Bimba Toggle. I did not want a pedal as I want it to stay sustained.

[Warren Lake]

If sustained means to stay clamped then you buy that type of pedal. Might even be one pedal and you hook it up two ways cant remember, I had two first one crapped out after a number of years.

[Brian Holcombe]

An update on this. Felder updated me, they had the remainder of the kit parts local, so they're shipping them to me pronto. The kit is not $940, it's $650~, we had one part redundant.

I ordered cast iron slabs for the fence and fence parts, once I mill that up I will add the other parts needed to make the fence more useful, planned so far is a length of aluminum extrusion (48") that can be used for setting stops.

[Brian Holcombe]

Ok, received the parts and installed. I found the install to be very straightforward but no documentation was available I'm simply working off of applied experience with gears and so forth.

I plan to detail this in a blog post, so I'm not going to write up a ton here, just wanted to show the add-on parts.



Here is a photo of the racks and pinions, please mind you that this is before I set the tooth clearances so they look large in this photo. I'm taking photos as I install.




blocks for the handle shaft, the gears are mounted on this. These blocks adjust the clearance of the gears with the eccentric bolts.

[Brian Holcombe]

Milling cast iron into parts